Rankism

Rankism, a term coined by physicist, educator, and citizen diplomat Robert W. Fuller, is used to describe "abusive, discriminatory, or exploitative behavior towards people because of their rank in a particular hierarchy". According to Fuller rank-based abuse underlies many other phenomena such as bullying, racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Carl Matthes: Is it any surprise, then, that Attorney McLaughlin feels it’s quite okay to write an initiative to kill gay people when a member of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is making pronouncements that being gay is tantamount to being a murderer and child molester?

Caroline Heldman: Almost no schools expel rapists or take other basic measures to shift rape culture on their campuses due to perverse institutional incentives, such as concerns of being sued by perpetrators or financial and reputational loss from admitting there’s a problem.

Tina Dupuy: Our first woman president, that person who believed as a little girl her country could be better for all women everywhere, will at some point in her presidency be called an ugly, unattractive, nut-cracking, ball-busting, bunny boiling, castrating, emotional, crazy, weeping, bewildered, menopausal, menstruating, angry, excitable, hysteric hag.

Rev. Irene Monroe: The Atlanta-based family-owned fast food fried chicken chain Chick-fil-A can now, with the state’s sanctioning of House Bill 1023, openly and legally discriminate in their hiring practices of Jews, divorcees or LGBTQ people based on their Southern Baptist beliefs.

Carl Matthes: It was President Obama’s firm support that helped propel gay rights to the stage-center as LBJ, using the assassination of JFK and his Southern heritage, brought the passage of the Civil Rights Act to the national center stage.

Victor Narro: Self-awareness at all times during our work for justice helps keep us in a state of humility. Self- awareness of how we treat others and how we engage with our colleagues in campaigns and other activities guides us in the community we are trying to build. We must always be in the presence of this self-awareness.

David Love: 50 years since the march from Selma to Montgomery, we are reminded that institutional racism, racial disparities in wages and wealth, and discrimination based on color are still a harsh reality of American life. And we have a long way to go.

Wellness

Carole Bartolotto: The problem with concluding that GMOs are safe is that the argument for their safety rests solely on animal studies. These studies are offered as evidence that the debate over GMOs is over. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Environmentalism

Margo McCall: There’s increasing evidence that adopting a plant-based diet is better for human health, the planet, and of course for the more than 9 billion animals that are killed for consumption each year in the U.S alone.